Our price list is available to download from the right hand column, but this must only be used as an estimate. The ranges given for procedures are designed to give you a “ballpark figure” but are by no means accurate quotations; though we do aim to stay within the ranges given wherever possible. (Some procedures are fixed price, and these are guaranteed).

Before seeing your client's pet and performing some diagnostic tests, and in some cases up until the time of treatment, it is impossible to tell exactly what is going to be required and therefore accurate estimates are difficult to produce ahead of time. Nonetheless we do try to give as accurate an estimate of costs as possible after the initial consultation and before any further treatment is undertaken.

Our norm is to process direct insurance claims

Many of your clients tell us that they do not have several thousand pounds of savings and therefore rely on their insurance policies. It is the norm in the human field for insurance to pay for treatment directly and we have taken the decision to do this as well. That way your client will often not have to come up with any cash at all. We do not charge an administration fee for making direct claims.

Deposits

Unlike some referral practices we do not insist on a deposit in advance of treatment. All we ask of insured clients is that they pay their anticipated contribution towards the cost of treatment at the time of discharge. This consists of:

The insurance excess – there is often no excess if you have already submitted a claim.

Insurance percentage – some policies have a percentage not covered by the policy.

Treatment above policy limit – as we all know some policies provide more cover than others.

In order to calculate the insurance shortfall, and to help your clients to pay as little as possible, we have to confirm details of the policy from their insurance company, and how much you have already claimed on the policy. This is the only way that we can advise them whether they have sufficient cover for the treatment we are suggesting, so that they can make an informed decision on costs.

It may sometimes appear that we are requesting this information so that we can ensure we charge the maximum possible! Nothing could be further from the truth; we find many clients do not understand their policy fully, and they appreciate our help in keeping them informed.

Owing to previous repeated problems, we are unable to offer direct claims for policies with E&L or Petinsurance.co.uk

BDML companies ( eg Asda, LV, PetsAtHome) will not process our claims until they receive a claim form from the referring vet advising of the referral ( even if there is no money to claim). Therefore, we ask clients to bring this with them at their initial consultation.

Tesco and More Than policies now require clients to use a “Preferred Referral Network” or they have to pay an enhanced excess. We are members of that network, so normal policy terms apply.

Payment schemes

We do not usually provide payment plans for clients, but we will always try to provide the most cost effective diagnostic/treatment plan in close consultation with the pet’s owner.

We do have access to a third party rapid assessment interest-free loan company - Carefree Credit - who will give a quick response to requests via email. We have found that many clients have benefitted from this services.

In summary, we have tried to ensure that our payment policy is as transparent and flexible as possible and enables as many of your clients to be able to afford to come to see us as possible. If you have any suggestions of ways in which we can improve our service, please call our Managing Partner, Chris Trickey, on 01425 485615.